Arms Up!!!

“When I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster…Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!... I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like  

the roller coaster. You get  more out of it.”  -Helen Shaw "Grandma"

I caught myself watching the 1989 movie “Parenthood” the other day, and as I watched, I grew more and more astonished at how the director Ron Howard, was able to convey such incredible and yet spot on depictions of real life parenting.  My favorite quote beyond the one above, was one in where Steve Martin’s character was having a serious discussion with his wife, played by Mary Steenburgen, where he stated due to the fact of them having three children, “My whole life is a “have to.”  His allusion was that since he had a family to feed, there were no longer “optional” choices for him to have.  His “have to’s” were completely immersed in ensuring that his family was taken care of. I took it that his implication was that he felt hopeless, knowing there was no escape from the “have to’s” as far as his eye could see.

Haven’t we in some form or another been there? We get to a point where we feel that it takes everything we have just to make the wheel of life spin. The ability to navigate this dangerous set of rapids is to have enough foresight to comprehend that by our own choice we have all intentionally enlisted into some sort of “have to”. Case in point, if I want to have a healthy body, I “have to” refrain from eating ice cream at night (boo) and also hit the gym and actually sweat, and not just in the sauna! My “have to” if I choose to have collector cars is to have collector car insurance; as a parent, I “have to” be the best one I can be, and finally, If I choose to waste my life and throw everything away that would have led to my success, my “have to” will be to give up the dreams I once had.    

In the movie, the quote by this loveable and yet wise grandmother nailed the very things each of the main characters toiled with throughout most of it. Life is hard and unpredictable; it is frightening, scary, exciting, and thrilling all rolled up in one ball.  One moment we may be celebrating in elation, the next might be spent recovering from being thrown in the mud.  That’s life, we need to deal with it, but you know what, a little mud isn’t so bad once in a while. Mud makes us grateful to be clean, and being thrown down gives us the appreciation of being able to stand. I am ok with getting scared, as much as I am ok with getting a little excited by my life’s journey. 

Ask yourself this, are you a roller coaster person, or a merry-go-round person?

“I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it”

May you have an amazing, up, down, up, down kind of journey; and when you hit an unexpected challenge, may you also have the courage to scream at the top of your lungs, Whoopeeee!!! Eager to see where this ride will take you.  Have an inspiring day!! 

-Lou